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Vanuatu

Following Tropical Cyclone Pam, Caritas worked with the Diocese of Port Vila to provide shelter and food to those in need. We are continuing to work with our partners to help people rebuild.

Development Programmes

Tropical Cyclone Pam hit the country in March 2015. We are partnering with the Diocese of Port Vila and the Butterfly Trust to train local people to rebuild safer houses that are better able to withstand natural disasters in the future.

Five local master builders received tuition in safer and more resilient building practices and standards that are internationally recognised. They were also upskilled to become trainers, who then passed on their skills to 20 local youth trainees. Working together, they helped repair and rebuild more than 60 houses in Anamburu, Port Vila (one of the suburbs most damaged by the cyclone) as part of their skills training.

Having met for the first time during the programme, the master builders have gone on to form their own Anamburu Builders Association. We are continuing to support the association and work alongside our partners to build back safer homes.

We are also working with the Diocese of Port Vila to better prepare people for future emergencies by pre-positioning emergency supplies.

Emergency Relief

September/October 2017: Volcano Manaro Voui Volcano on Ambae island in Vanuatu is becoming increasingly active and the island has been declared in a state of emergency. The entire island has been evacuated.

Caritas has been in contact with our partners in Vanuatu and has given more than a thousand tarpaulins to be used by evacuees in Pentecost and Santo. Our pre-positioned emergency supplies such as hygiene kits and household items are also available. Churches are being used as evacuation centres.

2015: More than 2,000 Caritas tarpaulins were distributed to provide shelter for the thousands of people left homeless following Cyclone Pam.

We also helped distribute food to hundreds of families around Efate (Vanuatu's main island), and helped communities recover through the Cash for Work programme we delivered in Port Vila (the capital) and on Tanna Island.